Dawson Daylight: June 2012

Extra Photographs of Private Property published on Dawson County Tax Assessors Public Website.

By now you should have received your property tax appraisal and may be pleased to see that this is reduced and (as long as there is not an increase in the millage rate) you may be paying less tax this year than last year. However if you are one of the folks who live around the lake and a field assessor has visited you in the last 6 months or so you may be less pleased to see extra photos (beyond the customary front view of your home) posted on a public website. These photos, until about three weeks ago, also included docks as well as views from private patios, decks and even included dogs behind a fence!

Initially I brought this privacy and security issue to the attention of the Dawson Tax Assessors Office some six weeks ago and was told that it was their legal right to post publically any photos the field assessors had taken. However the Georgia legislation (Tax and Revenue 48-5-314) is extremely vague, and makes no reference to the content of online public records of private property. Common sense and reason might indicate that such additional photo postings provide would be thieves with shopping lists and locations.

Some three weeks ago the Dawson News and Advertiser published a DCHCA letter to the editor highlighting these issues. Following this publication I have spoken personally with the Chief Appraiser, the Board of Assessors Chairman, the BOC Chairman, and some of the County Commissioners. I have sent all the Commissioners email examples of these extra photos, as well as notifying our State Senator, those currently running for District 9 State House Representative seat and the GA Department of Revenue about the need to update the legislation to protect not just our private property rights but also to safeguard the security of our homes.

Although these actions by the DCHCA have been successful in getting the Tax Assessors Office to remove photographs of docks, many of the other views around the back and sides of lake homes, including the property owner’s vehicle with legible license tags in the driveway, still remain publicly accessible and downloadable.

With your help the DCHCA will continue to request that our elected leaders formulate and enforce a policy that will protect both our private property rights and the security of our homes, by removing the existing “extra photographs” currently posted on the Dawson Tax Assessors public website, and preventing similar extra photos, beyond the traditional front aspect of a home, from being uploaded in the future not just for the “lake front” homes but all homes countywide. Check your property card online and let the Dawson Tax Assessors Office and your elected leaders know your preference for “extra photographs” of your property being published and available for downloading by anyone on a public website.

Jane Graves
For Dawson County Homeowners Civic Association
www.dawsoncountyhomeowners.org

To check YOUR property card online click the following link (taken from the Dawson County Government website) http://www.dawsontaxassessors.org/index.html - Click on “Search Records” tab at the top left of the page – when a new page appears click on the statement Yes, I accept the above statement and want to Search Records. The next page that comes up gives you choices of how to search - typing your last name in the box will bring up all property cards for that family name….scroll through these to find yours, click on “Parcel Number” on left side of the page to bring up your “property card”.

Photos can be viewed by clicking on “Building Image”. These are generally just the standard front aspect of the home but if you have a “lake” property you may find additional photos publically published under “Land Information”. If “show photo” appears here click it. You may see your deck, patio, a view over Public Lands managed by the Corps of Engineers and perhaps a tree, your vehicle, a fishpond or your dogs in your backyard!

Note: Currently the quality of aerial photography published on the Tax Assessor’s website is not uniform for the entire county. The Lake area and Dawson Forest are featured in high resolution aerial photography (but not sufficient to read license tags!) Further north and west of the Lake there is an intermediate resolution (less detail is identifiable) and in the far western areas of the county the aerial photography is much more fuzzy. The website allows the viewer to pan 360 degrees aerially around a property, zooming in and out to ascertain more detail. None of these angles feature anything like the detail or resolution of the photos taken by a field assessor on foot.

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